“He is not completely stupid”: Barack Obama spoke about Putin

Russia will always aggravate the situation in Ukraine, believes the US President Barack Obama.He said this in an interview to The Atlantic.

“The fact is that Ukraine is not a NATO member, and will always be vulnerable to military domination of Russia no matter what we do,” – said Obama.

“Putin acted in Ukraine in response to its willingness to slip away from his influence. And he improvised in order to resume control. He did the same in Syria, despite the loss of well-being of his country… Russia was much stronger at the times when Ukraine looked like an independent country,” – said the US president.

To say that the Russian Federation is now stronger than it was before the beginning of the aggression means to not understand the whole nature of the power in international relations, or the world in general, he added.According to Obama, Russia is now bleeding.

With regard to relations with the country’s president, Obama noted the “scrupulous politeness” of Putin: “He never makes me wait for two hours, as he does with others”.

This may be explained by Putin’s desire to look like a real and full partner: “He was always interested in being seen as our partner, because he’s not completely stupid. He understands that Russia’s position in the world substantially weakened. And the fact that he invaded the Crimea, or trying to support Assad, does not make him a player”. “And now you do not see him in any of the meetings, forming the agenda,” – said Obama.

The US president also commented on the possibility to get involved in a war with Russia because of its aggression in Ukraine, and the annexation of the Crimea: “If someone in Washington thinks that we are considering the possibility of war with Russia over the Crimea and eastern Ukraine, he should talk about it loud and clear”.